I’m a teacher and I have heard many stories of teachers giving their students mints before tests because it will help them perform better. I remember being given mints and told this when I was in school, too.

I’ve heard (and believe) that it is purely psychological suggestion.

Any thoughts? Has anyone heard of scientific studies done on this??

I haven’t read anything about it, but you may be right about psychological suggestion. If you tell someone “This will make you perform better” often times they will.

Yeah, a good part of the problem that a lot of people have with tests is just the fear and stress and panic.  So if you’re given something and told that it will help you, then that would likely calm you down a bit and you’d be less likely to freeze up.  Plus, I suppose the small boost of calories would help a tiny bit with getting the brain functioning at a higher speed.

So yes, it is perfectly possible that giving out mints that way could benefit the students, but it’s not likely to be due to any actual properties of the mints themselves.  You could hand out brussel sprouts or boiled eggs and get the same result.

Accipiter - 12 March 2008 07:43 AM

Yeah, a good part of the problem that a lot of people have with tests is just the fear and stress and panic.  So if you’re given something and told that it will help you, then that would likely calm you down a bit and you’d be less likely to freeze up.  Plus, I suppose the small boost of calories would help a tiny bit with getting the brain functioning at a higher speed.

Conversely, mints have a ton of sugar and, unless your test is really short, the spike will be followed by a drop.

JulietGolf - 12 March 2008 06:20 AM

I’m a teacher and I have heard many stories of teachers giving their students mints before tests because it will help them perform better. I remember being given mints and told this when I was in school, too.

I’ve heard (and believe) that it is purely psychological suggestion.

Any thoughts? Has anyone heard of scientific studies done on this??

I’d be interested to see if something like a hard toffee would have the same effect as a mint. I suspect that part of the reason for any perceived effect would be that eating the sweet distracts from worries about the test etc., and part of it might be due to sucking being a calming action. I’m curious about whether the strong flavour of a mint adds to the distraction.

*makes a note to start selling mint schnapps in front of schools around exam time*

Just sounds like a placebo effect to me.

Still, if it works, it works. No harm in a little psychological boost, is there?

Renquist - 12 March 2008 04:15 PM

Just sounds like a placebo effect to me.

Still, if it works, it works. No harm in a little psychological boost, is there?

It’s not like certain other items involving the placebo effect that are out there on the market being sold for grossly overinflated prices, after all.  If it’s free and if it helps even a few students, then good for the teachers who hand them out.

Acci: “HEAD ON: APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD......” lol

Sub: You are exactly right. When learning something new, the process of storing the info in your brain is called the encoding process. If you combine a sensory memory with the material being studied during the encoding prrocess, having that sensory memory available to you will greatly improve your ability when asked to recall the learned material.

A lot of studies have been done on this subject. I remember learning about them in college, but can’t find any now though I looked. This effect has been demonstrated with all of the senses, not just with taste.  It has even been suggested that smell is the most effective of all the senses. I would be willing to guess that this is part of the reason students do not “test well"- because, especially during standardized testing including SATs, ACTs, etc., they are often put in different rooms (sometimes rooms they have never been in), with teachers/proctors they do not know, and other students who are not their usual classmates. I think that this might create a sensory overload for them, disrupting their normally abilities to think and work.

However, there comes a point where catering to such issues as these could begin to hinder them in the dreaded “REAL WORLD” and the students need to learn to be able to function academically regardless of the environment.

Well, being a Bengals fan, I remembered this comes from a University of Cincinnati study.

New Scientist reports on it here.

Sadly, lead author William Dember died a little over a year and a half ago, anyone who has studied psychology should recognise his name as the author of the theory of ‘optimum complexity’, which specified curiosity as a basic animal need (the need to know).

David B.- THANK YOU SO MUCH! That article is fantastic! I’m going to forward it to all the other teachers in my school and even use it with my students in my English class.

What have you unleashed upon the poor unsuspecting students, David B.?!?